Posts Tagged: california

Night Excursion

#2

#2 (click image to view large)

A first pass at working with some night shots from earlier this evening.

#1

#1 (click image to view large)

 

#3

#3 (click image to view large)

Weekly Photo Challenge: Morning

The WordPress prodders suggested this photo topic to me (and millions of others). It makes me think of one thing.

About three years ago my late cousin Tommy and his wife Maia were hosting Thanksgiving at the compound in Orinda. He insisted that our family come over the day before to hang out and spend the night, and just leisurely cook and drink and relax. We did. We had a lovely time all around. And it was one of the last times I’d spend an extended amount of time with him in good spirits.

I brought my camera and tripod along to play around with some night shots. Then, since the room we were in had gigantic east facing windows, we were roused by the lovely dawn. I got up, grabbed the camera and tried to figure out how to expose for these solar edge events.

On second thought, there is one other thing that comes to mind when I hear “sunrise”: The Who playing  “See me, feel me” at Woodstock.

Retrograde Commute part 2

Part 2 of Retrograde Commute has some of the different square approaches I’ve been exploring.

Macarthur Station, Oakland CA Retrograde Square #1

Macarthur Station, Oakland CA Retrograde Square #1

Macarthur Station, Oakland CA Retrograde Square #2

Macarthur Station, Oakland CA Retrograde Square #2

Macarthur Station, Oakland CA Retrograde Square #3

Macarthur Station, Oakland CA Retrograde Square #3

Macarthur Station, Oakland CA Retrograde Square #4

Macarthur Station, Oakland CA Retrograde Square #4

 

Retrograde Commute part 1

El Cerrito Plaza Station, El Cerrito CA.

El Cerrito Plaza Station, El Cerrito CA.

I catch the BART in El Cerrito. Often, but completely accidentally, I find myself on the Fremont train to downtown Oakland. I say accidentally because it could just as easily be the San Francisco/Milbrae train. When it is the Fremont train, it waits at Macarthur Station for the SF train on the other line, so that people can transfer. And it waits to allow that train to pull out first. That leaves me with the views pictured below, which I am intrigued by. I’ve playing around with some different processing approaches. These are the full frame versions. The next post will present the square crop versions.

El Cerrito Plaza Station, El Cerrito CA.

El Cerrito Plaza Station, El Cerrito CA.

Macarthur Station, Oakland CA.

Macarthur Station, Oakland CA.

Macarthur Station, Oakland CA.

Macarthur Station, Oakland CA.

West Albany Apartment

Camper and House / © neo serafimidis 2011

This makes me want to revisit the idea of photographing every home in Albany. It would be a huge undertaking, but it sure would be fun. And yet, I am still only 25% through photographing the commercial buildings. That suggests the residences are probably a project that can wait for my next forced retirement, and the kid has gone off to college.

Location, Location, Location

XXX

"XXX" From the "Where in Albany" series. Albany CA. January, 2011

It was a spooky evening for photography in Eastbania last night when I went out to shoot for the “Where in Albany” game feature on albany.patch.com.

The current obsession in Albany is the locating of a marijuana dispensary somewhere in our little town. The current application to open a dispensary was coming before the City Council again tonight, and it was expected that the applicants’ appeal would be rejected. It would locate it in a largely residential neighborhood on Solano Ave. But there is another application right behind that one that locates a dispensary down in the light industrial edge of town next to the train tracks.

With all that in mind last night, I set out to photograph the locations under consideration. The Solano location results weren’t all that interesting. But the fog helped produce something of interest down by the tracks.

Light Silhouette

"Light Silhouette" / © 2011 Neo Serafimidis

I suppose that all in all, this looks more like where expects to find one’s pot than a row of quaint storefronts surrounded by suburban-style homes.

Corvair Square


I recently changed the route of my bike commute to work. I was simply trying to get away from San Pablo Ave, which, while it is the straightest shot to my workplace, is also very bike-unfriendly. There are lots of cars, obstacles, freeway on/off ramps, and debris.

I decided that I would try to slide over to Hollis Ave through Emeryville, and this took me into west Oakland. The result is a new crop of photos, and some incubating ideas for future series.

New Street Light

New Street Light

Albany CA. 2010

I just noticed tonight that the street light right outside our house is different. It is is very white, almost blue light, and almost looks like LED. Then I noticed that several, but not all, of the street lights in the neighborhood have been replaced. It is easy to tell, because the contrast with the old yellowish sodium lights is striking.

I thought a web search was in order to see if this was part of something significant. Sure enough, I found the following information in this PDF:

The City will be replacing all “cobra head” street lights in Albany from High‐pressure sodium vapor (HPSV) to LED. Approximately $400,000 in Federal Stimulus Funds (ARRA funds) for energy efficiency will be utilized for this project. This project has many “green” benefits including:

  • CO2 reduction: 170,042 Kg/year
  • Energy savings: 324,506 kWh/year
  • First Year Cost savings: $28,374

They will be replacing over 600 of the old sodium lights. There’s also a lot said about improved visibility. It definitely seems much brighter out there. I hope it is not too much, since our bedroom window faces the street. On the other hand, I do like the quality of light much better than those terrible orangey sodium-vapor lights. It’ll make mundane neighborhood night photography much more fun.

Brighton Night

Brighton Ave, Albany CA, 2010.

Highway Memories

Southbound hwy 99 somewhere north of Merced. Telephone poles along the highway.

Southbound hwy 99 somewhere north of Merced. Telephone poles along the highway.

As far back as when we lived in Fresno and regularly drove to the Bay Area for shows or to visit relatives, I was enamored of the scenery along Hwy 99. How far back is that? Well, it was before the housing boom and bust, before the first tech boom and bomb. Before graduate school in the Great Northwest gave me the opportunity to appreciate scenery vastly different and yet, at times, strangely familiar. What nature wrought was vastly different. What humanity wrought, strangely familiar.

Before Flickr, before I had ever heard of Stephen Shore, and before I realized the importance of acting on the impulse, I intended to do a photo essay of the road between Fresno and Oakland that would consist entirely of old, usually free-standing signs that no longer had buildings or businesses associated with them. I would call it “The Lexicon of Abandonment”. (I suppose I could now work on a series called “The Lexicon of Procrastination”; perhaps I’ll get to that soon.) Among the most memorable abandoned signs we would pass along the highway was a wonderful old sign at the entrance to a drive-in theater in Merced. I believe it was called “The Starlite Drive-In” and it was, of course, a fabulous mid-century specimen. But even 20 years ago, it stood in front of an otherwise empty field of weeds, tall and forlorn along the roadside.

My intention probably suffered a mortal blow during the recent development boom when many old, abandoned buildings, signs, or other things, were finally torn down to make way for the new and shiny. A new development right along old 99 finally brought down the Starlite. I never shot it. That’s not to say there aren’t still many abandoned old signs out there. But just as in the Little Prince, that Starlite was special because it chose me and I chose it.

There is something else along this strange stretch of road that greets me like a tired old friend each time I traverse it. Just north of Merced on the west side of the road and next to the railroad tracks, runs a series of telephone poles. For a long time, years, they seemed to be in use and maintained, if only barely. But now, many are leaning, missing cross pieces, or simply snapped off. Here and there, wood hangs limply from the sagging wires. Sometimes, it is all on the ground. To me, they look like lonely sentinels along a desolate road somewhere in the midwest. They wave to me when we go racing by on our frantic Fresno excursions to visit family. Now, I’m acting on the impulse and waving back, with my camera. Sitting shotgun, I aim through the glass and get what I get: portraits of my old friends looking just as I’ve always known them, flickering by 65 mph.

Urban Farming

  

“In Aglaia’s Garden 5”, originally uploaded by neocles.

Spring is definitely here, and this week I have earnestly begun plans for spring planting. The difference this year is that in addition to planting my own small garden, I have been talking with my cousin Aglaia about collaborating on a more ambitious garden at her place where she has lots of space. I have been looking into urban farming ideas and the possibility of growing enough to trade with other local “farmers”.

Aglaia’s place is on the ridge in the Oakland hills on an eastern facing slope. It’s a great spot overlooking Moraga and the hills. Right now there is a strip at the top for vegetables, and many fruit trees on the slope. I will get the details on what trees there are, but I know there are at least a couple quince, which I love. And they are pretty rare around here these days, so Bay Area foodies interested in making jam or trendy membrillo (quince paste) might want some. 

There’s tons of clean-up and soil preparation to do, which we started on yesterday. Irrigation is in place but after some years of neglect, probably needs repair. We hope to have the first planting down the first week of May. We are definitely interested in sharing and trading. (Check out www.neighborhoodfruit.com) So, if anyone has recommendations on what to plant around here that people like but don’t already have tons of in their own gardens, let me know!